Jack Dahl
History Jack Dahl: 2012 - 2013 This enigmatic man showed up in Gotham without a background or even a name. With unknown motivations, he began to utilize-warfare against the organized crime in the city, focusing his attacks on the infrastructure of Black Mask’s False Face Society with military precision. Rumors began circulating that this mystery man had acquired some sort of “God-Code”, which granted him unrestricted access to nearly all forms of computerized technology. I had my doubts but being unable to find any digital information on this guy. I began to suspect the existence of this God-Code may have been accurate. You know if I’m concerned, the cowardly and superstitious criminals were pissing their pants. So, long story short, this guy eventually gets an audience with Black Mask, with some help from Huntress and Ronin, and offered a simple ultimatum: confess to his part in a drug deal gone wrong at the airport, resulting in several passenger's casualties aboard Flight 1286 from the ensuing gunfight, or die in the explosion of a military grade missile en route to their location thanks to his “God-Code”. Black Mask tried to call the man’s bluff at first until their conversation progressed to the point where Black Mask realized he was not the only sociopath in the room. When Black Mask was taken into custody, Batman confronted this mysterious stranger and demanded that he be given the God-Code. After revealing it was all an elaborate ruse and that there never was a God-Code, it was all just theatricality and deception. Impressed, Batman had me forge an identity for this stranger. Now known as Jack Dahl, lead tech designer at WayneTech and all-around oddball, this man is secretly a member of the ever-growing vigilante population of Gotham City.Oracle Files: Jack Dahl (1/2) Fox: 2013 - Present After settling in with a job at Wayne Enterprises under the cover ID of “Jack Dahl”, this strange man adopted “Lizzie”, an orphaned survivor of Flight 1286. As his bond with Lizzie grew, Jack became a more compassionate and restrained man. As his training with Joseph Kane and others in the Bat Family progressed, he also became less homicidal (though, he is still rather brutal and prone to absurd violence when he becomes unhinged at the sight or thought of innocents being harmed). When Bane destroyed Blackgate Prison, Jack became agitated to learn that Black Mask had gone into hiding during the mass escape. In order to keep Jack’s mind off of the escaped killer and renowned gangster, Batman tasked me to have him monitor the ongoing situation with the two factions of the League of Assassins (Talia's “Loyalist of Leviathan” and Nyssa’s “Rebels of Red Claw”). Jack chose to drag Joseph Kane and Cassandra Cain into this assignment. While investigating the making of the brewing civil war/sibling rivalry, Jack had encountered Nyssa al Ghul on several instances and when she made a particular counter to his fighting technique, Jack became intrigued, suspecting that Nyssa had also once studied under his same mentor. In that moment of hesitation, Nyssa unmasked Jack and managed to escape. The next time they met, Nyssa bested both Jack and Joseph and explained that she was not a student of Jack’s mentor as he suspected, but in fact, it was she who had once trained the man who would later go on to call himself “the Mercenary King”, over thirty years ago. Jack and Joseph would escape from Nyssa’s clutches due to Cassandra Cain’s timely arrival. Since that fateful encounter, chatter seems to suggest that Nyssa has become intrigued by the idea of recruiting Jack Dahl into the ranks of her new order. However, for the time being, Jack remains a member of Gotham City’s vigilante scene, beating up criminals to the sounds of his personal soundtrack.Oracle Files: Jack Dahl (2/2) I have recently learned that Jack is a member of the Monitor's "Challengers" squad. UPDATE Jack Dahl was Canonized by the Anti-Monitor and transformed into Ystina. Powers and Abilities Powers * Artifact: '''Jack has been chosen to join the ranks of a secret team hand-picked by the mysterious Monitor based on some metaphysical element in Jack that will be of some considerable use in some confrontation in the future. Abilities * '''Swordsman: Jack has been trained in almost every sword style used in the world, learned from Japanese masters, Chinese Senseis and an Italian Blacksmith whom always tested his metal after forging it. From all these teachers Fox forged his own combat style to match his hit them hard fast close quarter combat, and has the upper body strength required to use his sword as fluidly and effectively as possible. ** Sonic Blades: Jack has a pair of bladed weapons, a sonic sword ("Kamali") and a small sonic dagger, reserved for extremely close combat. Jack usually wields the sword with one hand and keeps the other to fire his whipcord or throw a pellet whilst still engaging his enemy or deflecting incoming attacks. * Tracker: Jack is an exceptional tracker and scout, even in urban environments. Jack is effectively able to take point and assess the terrain to plot the best course of action. * Physical Conditioning: Jack's light on his feet, incredibly athletic with a strong build so he can navigate all sorts of areas without losing speed and momentum (you better believe he can parkour). ** Endurance: Jack has taught himself to take a huge amount of pain and still carry on fighting. He learned pain displacement during his time in Europe and China so he could let the pain take effect once the battle was over, his tolerance is near superhuman and he has the scars to prove it. * Cybernetics: Jack has minor enhancements to his sight and hearing, nothing explicitly superhuman but it still gives him an additional edge on the battlefield. Without the aid of his lenses on his mask he can spot a sniper at intermediate range and hear enemies breathing before they step into an ambush. * Stealth: Jacks's armor has a stealth feature able to suppress sound, heightening his sneaking capabilities. Jack can also control his breathing to make almost no noise at all. * Multilingual: Apparently Jack is a well traveled man will pick up the odd phrase in certain languages, Jack however has learned how to speak fluently in French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese and Russian. Despite being a British national his dialect sounds so natural when speaking in these foreign tongues one could mistake him for a Frenchman, he also maintains some contact with former informants in Europe. * Engineering: Jack is no slouch when it comes to building his own toys. He constructed his entire sonic arsenal, right down to the swords and made his cyberflesh armor himself. Since moving to Gotham he still designs all his own weaponry and gadgets but often collaborates with Lucius (or even his son Lucas in secret) to get the best results. As part of his day job, Jack is a Lead Technical Engineer at Wayne Enterprises, and he has the technical aptitude to back it up. * Hyper-Tactical: Jack's mind has been conditioned mercilessly to be ready to take on any foe, often making pre-planned strategies so as to already know how to best his enemy before he engages them. Fox does not waste time, he will not toy with his opponent and will not give any opportunity for them to get the upper hand if he can shut them down first. When facing an opponent he has no experience or pre-planned strategy with he will not underestimate them but rather opt for the defensive and analyse their fighting style and at the first sign of weakness he will exploit it and knock them down. * Martial Arts: Jack's body and mind have been forged from a young age to make him into a lethal weapon in hand to hand combat. Jack never goes in for the kill but is more than prepared and able to deliver bone-breaking blows and deliver instant knockout punches to the head and chest. His style is hard and fast, he won't waste time and will hit his enemies where it will do the most damage and will ensure a quick knockout. When fighting an enemy more experienced he will play it out, his endurance is something he has worked a LOT on so he can often outlast his foes before delivering a decisive blow. Paraphernalia * Arsenal: ** Sonic Blade (Kamali): Kamali is a blade forged from Eptosteel, commonly known amongst the merc circles as Ghost Alloy as when vibrated to a high enough frequency it can cut through virtually everything. It's a highly versatile metal, virtually unbreakable but requires frequent work so it can vibrate effectively, this often requires sheening and temperature control. ** Sonic Charges/Sonic Gauntlet: A syringe needle similar to an ice pick can retract from the disposable charge to open locks and be stabbed into enemies for the purpose of interrogation. Applied to the sonic Gauntlet they can create a synced vibration enabling Fox to punch through steel or easily shatter bones. ** Sonic Dagger: Crafted from the same eptosteel that made Kamali, this small blade is used for close combat situations and also for interrogation purposes. It's caliber is less than Kamali but still packs a mean sting. ** Modified Batarang: Can be thrown at an enemy and release a sound wave burst to knock them back or knock them out depending on the frequency (single use for most frequencies) and can also be used to bypass certain security tech-locks ** "Chirpy": A prototype scout drone constructed with Jude. A sonic pellet fashioned with a camera and rotor blade the little thing flutters into the fray and scans the terrain and sends the visual back to Fox's mask. The pellet was dubbed a chirpy owing to the noise it makes, Lizzie thought it was cute. ** Mask: The Mark I mask was originally a Japanese Kitsune mask hung in Fox's old home in Britain. He took it and fashioned it into his helmet, lining the interior with Kevlar and coating the mask with eptosteel so it could vibrate at the same frequencies as his sword. When all else fails he is able to turn his mask into a weapon, taking it off and throwing it into the fray of enemies and activating the screech signal through his rather obscure verbal command ("Ming-Ming-Ming-And-A-Ming-And-A-Moo"). ** Whipcord: On the gauntlet parallel to the sonic gauntlet Fox has a fiber cord whipcord launcher which he can use to ensnare enemies and grapple along the rooftops of Gotham. * Cyberflesh: Constructed through nano machines weaving in Kevlar into a thin layer of custom synthoid skin which is also highly resistant. Fox's armor is made light but not at the expense of defense or endurance. When Cyberflesh is damaged it can only be repaired by nano machines, Fox's armor is virtually bulletproof but can be cut by armor-piercing rounds and by swords of similar caliber to Kamali.Deluxe Oracle File: Jack Dahl Weaknesses * Alcohol: Jack is a drinker. Not always a heavy one, but he has become absolutely wasted on a number of occasions. It's during these occasions that his emotional suppression is fully dropped and all of his feelings come out in a burst making him sometimes act with hyperactive joy, become angry and aggressive (resulting in a back alley brawl with some unfortunate thugs), confused and sleepy and often at the climax of all of these outbursts intense sorrow. * Childhood Trauma: From what I've been able to piece together through Jack's conversations is that he did not have a pleasant childhood. Owing to parental neglect and emotional (sometimes physical) abuse, the separation from his little sister at the age of twelve, and a very socially harmful time at secondary school; Jack carries a lot of unresolved childhood trauma that he deals with to this day. * Mental Illness: Jack suffers from a litany of mental and personality disorders including monophobia, depression, and schizophrenia. * Relationships: Jack's depression and self-loathing plays a direct hand in his difficulty and sometimes inability to form serious relationships. in the case of his close friends (such as his bromance with Joseph Kane), Jack feels he has to keep a large part of his life a secret in order for friends to accept and like him. This also plays a much heavier hand in romantic endeavors, as Jack cannot fathom why someone would have such feelings for him which also manifests in a fear of intimacy. Trivia and Notes Trivia * He's a massive TV and movie buff. * He will only wear a suit and tie if he were getting married or re-enacting the music videos for MIB and MIB 2 (he actually loves all three movies and their soundtracks). * He's a big fan of Samurai Jack and is sometimes heard humming the theme tune even when on missions. * Jack is of multiracial heritage. DNA testing suggests he is 50% Central African, 25% Eastern European, and with scattered low percentages of Chinese, Mongolian, and Middle Eastern. * Jack's best friend and "bro-for-life" is Joseph Kane. * Jack has a strange fear or dislike for drinking straws... of all things. * Jack has an eclectic eating habit, it's believed owing to his less than stellar upbringing he eats whenever he can as he's unsure when the next meal is coming. * Jack has a difficult time getting out of bed every morning. It's hard to say if this is due to being hungover, having morning pains, didn't sleep well due to nightmares, or just the general unwillingness to continue on with his life. Notes * Jack Dahl is an original character created by Rhys Horton, aka: Foxy-Knight. Links and References * Appearances of Jack Dahl Category:Original Characters Category:Foxy-knight/Creator Category:Erased From Continuity Category:Candidates for deletion